Georgia state Rep. Ron Stephens will have to wait until the next legislative session to reintroduce legislation allowing casino gambling. His measure to legalize casinos in select cities did not make it past “Crossover Day,” the final day proposals can be approved by the House and move to the Senate.
Stephens said, “We’ll try again. There’s still a lot of controversial bills in the state legislature. It was one of those things that came down to maybe it wasn’t just the right time. But the bottom line is we can’t walk away from it. We’ve got a whole lot of venues out here in Georgia that may have only one or two events per year, and they’d like to add some of these tourism products” such as gambling.
Stephens first introduced casino gambling legislation in 2018. This year, he and his colleagues included a statewide voter referendum in the measure. Governor Brian Kemp, a gambling opponent, stated he would not veto the measure, so a vote could have been held in 2020.
Stephens said he’ll propose a measure including a statewide voter referendum in 2020 again next year. The bill also would create a gaming commission to license and regulate destination casinos at specific sites in the state.
Georgia voters seem to be warming to the idea of allowing casino gambling. In 2017, an Atlanta Journal Constitution poll indicated more than half of Georgians supported legalizing casino gambling. More recently, in early February a poll by Virginia-based Public Opinion Strategies showed 85 percent of Georgians, both Republicans and Democrats, supported a voter referendum on the issue.
Stephens’ measure would help fund the HOPE scholarship program, which was created with the state lottery in 1992 but could run out of money by 2028. It has provided more than $9 billion in tuition at Georgia colleges and universities for in-state students.
Others disappointed by the casino measure’s failure this year include City Commercial Real Estate Founder Rick Lackey, who has helped property owners market their locations to potential casino operators. Those locations are a 300-acre parcel adjacent to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; a 500-acre tract off Interstate 85 along Lake Hartwell in North Georgia; a 320-acre site near downtown Savannah; a 300-acre area in LaGrange; 104 acres in Bremen near the Alabama border; and various large tracts off Interstate 95 at the Georgia-Florida state line.
“We have numerous casino operators looking at sites around the state right now and some that have entered negotiations to option the sites. They all know the current political circumstances. This is 2019, and the vote will be 2020. I don’t think it matters that it failed this year. It should be much easier the next time around. I don’t want to come off like a political expert because I’m not, but it’s like Sunday liquor sales. It’s going to happen,” Lackey said.
